Sunshine patriot - An overview
A Sunshine Patriot is a disloyal soldier who only helps their country's patriots when they are winning and abandons them when they are losing. This is one of the primary reasons why George Washington struggled to hold soldiers during the Revolutionary War.
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For example, Thomas Paine in his novel The American Crisis no. 1 uses the reference of the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot where he mentions people who were pro-independence before the war but changed their minds once it started.
Sunshine soldier: an in-depth description
The word 'Sunshine Soldier' means that sunshine is bright and always associated with happiness, just as when one side wins battles in a war and more people want to fight because their side is winning.
However, when the sun sets and their fighting side loses fights, the soldiers betray their comrades and abandon the war.
So, sunshine patriot means a non-loyal soldier who supports the country when they are winning and turns his back on his country when it is losing,
Washington and his sunshine soldiers
Washington’s army, which had numbered nearly 20,000 Continentals and militia in the late summer, was reduced to less than 5,000 effective soldiers as casualties and desertions began to mount.
To make matters worse, many of those remaining had limited enlistments that were set to expire in the winter. Recognizing that Washington’s situation was dire, General Howe continued to push onward into New Jersey.
The Continental Army remained elusive, as Washington pushed his exhausted and demoralized men across New Jersey to deny Howe the opportunity for one final decisive battle.
The American commander’s goal was to cross the Delaware River to the relative safety of Pennsylvania, and from there try to rekindle the American cause. Among the steadily waning column of soldiers following him was the 39-year-old English immigrant, Thomas Paine.
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